Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to provisioning Ethernet circuits to carry TDM payloads (e.g., DS1 or DS3).
Description of Related Art
Telcos and other larger carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have been reluctant to switch to Ethernet because set up or provisioning Ethernet lines to carry TDM payloads (e.g., DS1 or DS3) is complicated. Further, it is important that packet traffic collisions be avoided since the telcos and larger carriers are required to provide the same quality of service (QoS) for DS1s carried over Ethernet service as they do for DS1s carried over SONET, for example.
The ability to configure an Ethernet circuit to carry DS1 or DS3 TDM signals is known. In general, a standard TDM signal is “packetized” to be compatible with Ethernet. In addition to TDM payload, each packet contains overhead (e.g., “headers” and “footers”) to designate the packet destination and source within an Ethernet network, and often includes information such as check sums to validate that bits have not been corrupted, as well as means to designate the priority of each packet and the order in which the packets should be reassembled. Such overhead assists with providing the afore-mentioned QoS.
While it is presently possible to send DS1 and DS3 TDM circuits over Ethernet, many technicians and engineers were trained on TDM technology such as SONET and are therefore unfamiliar with the intricacies necessary to support TDM over Ethernet. In addition, even technicians familiar with the necessary Ethernet provisioning are still faced with the many individual steps necessary to set up such a circuit.